@Michael.Monsson

(What we learned from 321,021 Craigslist ads)

If your properties regularly advertise their vacancies on Craigslist, they have likely experienced

having their postings ghosted or flagged. Having a post ghosted or flagged means that either

a user of the site has clicked the ‘prohibited’ flag at the top of your post or that the Craigslist

bots have removed your post due to exceeding a threshold in one of their algorithms.

These activities are in place as an attempt to rein in the scammers and spammers on Craigslist,

but oftentimes legitimate businesses get caught in the web.

Here are a few simple rules to follow when posting to avoid user flagging and/or algorithmic ghosting,

presented in order of severity:

1) Don’t post in more than one city from the same email/account---

( On GoSexy.ca You Can )

Why? Because Craigslist promotes local connections and a common practice of spammers is

posting in multiple cities from a single central location.

What to do. If your email account in Craigslist is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and you post in Atlanta,

then you should only ever post in Atlanta.

Avoid posting in any other city with that same email account. If you must post in another city,

use a different email account like This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

2) Don’t post identical content---

( On GoSexy.ca You Can )

Why? Having ads with identical content on Craigslist can get those ads ghosted or flagged

because Craigslist forbids posting the same thing more than once.

What to do. Vary your ad content with each post. Alter the titles, the order of the images uploaded,

and the body copy every time you post an ad.

3) Don’t post back-to-back ads ---

( On GoSexy.ca You Can )

Why? A craigslist search results page that contains many ads with similar content and the same

contact information looks “spammy.” Technically, Craigslist even forbids having two ads in the

same category, even if you are legitimately selling two different things.

What to do. Allow some time to pass between ad postings. Exactly how much time depends

on the individual market. Each market has varying volumes of ad postings.

With very active markets, you need only wait a half hour to an hour between postings, other

less active markets, you will need to limit your postings to one or two per day. The idea is to

let other ads come onto the site as a buffer between your ads.

4) Don’t use “spammy” words ---

( On GoSexy.ca You Can. Just Use Real Words No Code Needed )

Why? Craigslist is on the lookout for words and phrases routinely used by scammers and spammers.

Once again, legitimate businesses can get caught in this search.

What to do. Avoid using words and phrases that tend to be used by spammers such as

“free” or “credit card” or “weight loss.” Avoid using ALL-CAPS in your titles.

Also, avoid filling your ad with keywords unless those keywords are included in legitimate

sentences and phrases. Finally, ensure that your ads have obvious telephone contact information.

People in the Craigslist forums regularly admit that they flag ads simply

because they can’t find the contact information.

5) Don’t look too commercial ---

( On GoSexy.ca You Can )

Why? The Craigslist user community frequents the site because of the “free marketplace” feel of it.

Corporations posting using traditional branding messaging do not do as well in this environment.

What to do. Avoid HTML tagging, like bolding and underlining. Avoid posting an excess of photos.

Vary the content so the ads do not look too “templated.”

While the rules of the game are constantly being re-written, if you follow these 5 rules you are

much less likely to have your posts ghosted or flagged. Here at Rooof, we have developed a posting

tool that incorporates all of the 5 rules in a single browser extension that creates Craigslist ads

automatically by pulling data and images directly from your website.